The Blessing of Death
by MoIIuscophobia
Summary: Legolas found love with a mortal; Hera. Faced with her mortality and Legolas's eternal youth, Hera fled, carrying a little more than she left with. Years later, after Hera dies of a wasting disease, their daughter; Raina, a simple stable-hand is left with more questions than she has answers. BEING REWRITTEN
1. The Blessing of Death

**Prologue – Blessing of Death**

Grief is not something so easily ignored. It overcomes you; it takes over your mind and soul and devours you till you feel only pain. Raina knew this all too well, it had been just a week ago she had endured the loss of her mother. If truth be told, her mother had been dead for years, her soul drifting from her and her body breaking under the effects of a wasting disease that had gradually, become the death of her. By the end, Hera saw her passing as a blessing, and she had walked hand in hand with death out of this world.

Her mother's willingness to die only made the pain of losing her worse for Raina. The young girl was left believing that she was not worth holding onto life for, and as a result had grown angry at her mother for simply giving upon on life. Raina, however, could never hate her mother. She was after all the only parent she had ever known and apparently, ever would know.

Raina's parentage was, and still is, the talk of Lake-Town. It was long rumoured that her father was an elf from Mirkwood. Raina's pointed ears had been a strong indicator that Hera, a mere mortal had slept with an elf. Raina didn't know what to believe, Hera had never told her daughter, and Raina had never asked.

After, and before, her mother's passing, Raina had moved in with her Aunt and Uncle and their two children, they had treated her as they would have her own daughter and Raina felt welcome in their home. However, she felt she needed to contribute and had found a job at the local stable, a job she had come to love.

She worked under the guidance of a man, known by the villagers, as Old Crickley. He sold horses, they were good horses, but they could not rival the horses of Mirkwood. Raina worked hard at her job and the old, Childless man had decided that the stable would belong to Raina in his passing.

It was a normal day, and like all normal days Raina was in the stables with her favourite horse, Hare. It was a strange name for a strange horse. Hare, had a long dark Maine of black that contrasted with its sandy toned body. Its eyes, instead of being the usual dull black glimmered under the influence of the sun.

Raina ran her hand down the horses' nuzzle. "I hope nobody buys you Hare," She breathed. "I can't bare to lose anyone else, especially not you,"

"You'll be lucky," The old Voice of Crickley echoed across the stable. "Do you know how much interest I've had on that horse? It is a fine strong stallion and there are many men, and one or two passing elves who have gazed upon it with envy. You have done a good job with him Raina, and it is because of that you are destined to lose him,"

"I wish he wasn't such a good horse," Raina sighed. "I wish I had the money to buy him myself,"

"But alas you do not. It is the way of business Raina, if you hope to run this place one day then you will understand; that it is not the horses we care for, but the profit," Crickley lectured carefully. Although she liked the old man very much there were many issues she could only disagree with and animal welfare was the subject they most often clashed on. "Now, finish up with Hare. There are many other horses that require your time and affection. A good breeder knows not to put all their eggs in one basket,"

Raina was finally finished with work. The day had dragged on and minutes had felt like hours. Raina was glad to be home. She was five feet from the door and she could already smell the sweet scent of freshly baked bread. Aunt Dione was a fine cook, but even she could not rival Hera's cooking. Raina took a deep breath as she remembered her mother's first attempts to teach her how to bake bread;

"_Now, little bug. We must knead the dough," Hera smiled, casting her flour covered daughter a wide grin. "The flour part is over Rain," _

"_I want flour," Raina spoke adamantly, reaching out for the over flowing sack. Her tiny fingers were too weak to grip it properly, but they were strong enough to knock it over. _

_A cloud of white smoke engulfed the room. When finally the pale smoke fluttered to the floor, creating a layer of white powder, a little girl was revealed with the powder covering her head to toe._

Raina opened the door and spotted her aunt standing in the kitchen, Her uncle Lance carefully leant upon the counter accepting frequent testers from his wife. Solanne was sat at the dining table bickering angrily with her little, unruly brother Maldor.

"Oh, hey Raina?" Dione spoke gently, "How does chicken soup sound?"

Raina felt like saying the "about the same as yesterday" but she bit it back. Her aunt did not appreciate sarcastic humour, or any humour at all for that matter. She was one of those people who saw life as black and white, nothing in-between mattered. "Chicken soup sounds fine,"

Raina sat at the table, the ten year old Maldor grinning wildly as he took a sip from his glass of water. "So, how is our half elven cousin doing on this fine day?"

"Will you stop assuming-"

"I don't think there's much to assume about," Solanne chuckled, "No one is born like you are without having at least a little bit elvish blood. I highly doubt that there is any on our side,"

Raina had had this argument more times than she cared to count. Solanne, and Maldor were of course right, it was plainly obvious to any outsider but Raina, who was in the state of denial was just beginning to come to terms with her parentage.

"Probably one of those...wood elves. We know ourselves how much wine they drink," Maldor laughed. Raina's face blushed pink; Dione on the other hand looked like an erupting volcano.

"Leave it Mal, It is not your business what your Aunt Hera – I mean, who your cousin's father is," Dione lectured, "Neither of you should joke about it,"

Solanne and Maldor grumbled in defeat, finishing of their dinner plates whilst carefully keeping their eyes on Raina, who was deep in thought;

"_Goodnight little bug," Hera kissed her daughter's forehead, "Do you want a bedtime story?"_

"_I want to know who my daddy is. Solanne has uncle Lance, why don't I have anyone?" Raina asked her mother gently, falling into a warm hold. "Can you buy one for me?"_

"_You cannot buy a father, sweet child," Hera sighed, "There either there or they aren't,"_

"_Why isn't he here then?" Raina asked, carefully reaching out for her mother's cheek. Hera took a deep breath. "I want a daddy; maybe he can come here and see us?"_

"_He's too busy for that," Hera smiled to herself, "You see, he's a prince and Prince's have a lot of work. Your daddy might not be there like others, but he is out there somewhere, maybe one day in the far future you will finally meet him. But until that day, let us leave the subject of your father,"_

_**A/N**_

_**I had this story written already, so it's just a case of re-writing. It was just kicking about gathering dust on my computer. So here it is the prologue/chapter 1. The next chapter will probably be longer, this was unbearably short.**_


	2. The Choice of the Peredhel

**Chapter Two  
The Choice of the Peredhel  
**

* * *

_"Unable are the loved to die. For love is immortality." Emily Dickinson_

Raina hummed softly under her breath as she stared out absentmindedly. She was awkwardly sat upon an elongated branch whilst mocking her younger cousin, Maldor for not being able to climb the tree. Maldor was not one to quickly admit defeat and with sheer determination finally managed to hoist himself up onto the branch beside Raina.

He sighed loudly to himself as he finally perched himself upon the rough and uncomfortable branch. He could only think that all the effort it took to climb the tree was a waste, the view wasn't even that good, the skyline was blocked by about a dozen different trees varying in height.

"Why do you always come up here?" Maldor asked curiously.

"Because, no one. Apart from you of course. Can find me," Raina sighed, "Sometimes, especially now. It's good to be alone for a little bit. Everyone fusses over me, they look at me as though I'll break with the slightest touch. My mother was dying for a while; it wasn't like I didn't expect it,"

Maldor could almost taste the bitterness in Raina's tone and he, like most of the male sex, did not know how to handle a grieving woman. One moment Raina was crying, the next she was overcome with indifference and then she could hardly see for rage. Maldor did the only thing he could think of; he rested his head upon her shoulder as he had done when he was just a child, no taller than a dwarf.

"Your different, Mal," Raina sighed, "Your slowly becoming the only person I can stand talking too."

"You know, Raina, my mother is only trying to make you feel welcome," Maldor spoke, "When she asks if you are fine. She just wants to know if you're alright. We all worry about you. It doesn't take Gandalf the Grey to work out that you are acting differently,"

"My mother's dead, do you expect me to be doing star jumps?" Raina shrugged, "But I guess you're right, I shouldn't be so judgemental of your mother,"

Maldor was about to speak when he heard the gallop of about fifty horse's hooves upon the forest floor. They battered harshly across the moist ground and various whinnies could be heard. Her cast Raina a glance, she was deep in thought, her feet already carefully manoeuvring her down to the ground.

Raina peered around the tree trunk, and if she had stepped out just a little further she'd have been trampled to death by no less than forty horses. Her jaw dropped. They were her horses. Or rather Old Crickley's.

"Raina? Are they not the horses from your stable?" Maldor asked, however when he saw the look upon Raina's face, he knew the answer was yes and the question need not have even been asked.

Before he could catch his breath, Raina had run after the horses. Maldor could hardly compete with her speed and after a minute or two of chasing the horses he was officially out of puff. By the time he regained his strength Raina was already leading back ten horses.

"Something's spooked them," Raina breathed. "Old Crickley must have left the gate open. I'll tie them up here, and you can come help me find the rest,"

Maldor reluctantly agreed, making his way through the woods, he found one or two of the less agile horses on his road, whilst Raina rounded up the rest. After an exhausting effort, finally all the horses were caught.

Raina mounted Hare with care and led the other horses back to the now empty stables. Something felt wrong, but it might just have been the absence of horses. Maldor carefully began guiding the horses back into the green field, whilst Raina entered the stables to check what was wrong.

Old Crickley lay flat out across the ground, groaning in pain. Raina flew to is side and the old man gripped her hand. "I couldn't...stop the horses," He grumbled. "I- I fell," He murmured. "I can't move,"

"Its fine, Crickley..." Raina spotted the obvious break in the old man's leg. Her heart thudded against her ribcage. She had once seen Crickely as a strong and independent man, but now looking at him all she saw was vulnerability. His eyes wide with helplessness, Raina couldn't help but feel reminded of her mother's own helplessness against her crushing disease. Unlike her mother, Crickley's affliction was nothing more than old age. But old age could be considered a disease, a disease that every mortal suffered from.

Raina knew of half-elvens and peredhels. She knew that they had the choice between mortality and immortality. Staring at Crickley on the floor Raina could not help but be swayed toward immortality, she did not want to die, she did not want to end up like her mother.

"Mal!" Raina called, "Can you help me, Old Crickley's fallen!"

Maldor came rushing through with a wheel barrow. Crickley grunted. "You're going to put me in that thing?"

"Well I'm not carrying you," Maldor gave the old man cheek, carefully aiding him onto the barrow. Crickley settled amongst the hay.

"Well it's more comfortable than the ground I'll give you that," He shrugged, "I'm hoping you got all the horses back?"

"Of course I did, they didn't get far," Raina spoke, beginning to wheel the barrow toward the healer's home. "No harm done, well...except perhaps your leg."

"And your working hours," Crickley mused, "I'm hardly going to be able to work with only one leg. I'm 'fraid your going to have little free time,"

Raina felt herself grunt out loud. Finally after what felt like a very long travel they arrived at the healers. Crickley would be fine, but Raina could already could feel herself become stressed at the prospect of _more_ work.

* * *

_Elsewhere_

Nothing; It was all Thranduil saw when he stared into his son's eyes. Legolas had fallen to wreck after Hera had left. It was true that Thranduil disliked his son with a mortal, but if there was one thing he hated more, it was seeing his son broken-hearted.

Thranduil had tried everything, he had attempted to engage Legolas in responsibilities, he thought if he tore his son's mind from the absence of Hera he would somehow forget all his troubles and smile instead of frown. He had tried organising feasts and balls and other things that had once made Legolas smile.

Thranduil had of course failed, and he had resigned himself to the fact that perhaps Legolas would always be like this.

"Legolas," Thranduil spoke with a caring tone, placing himself upon his son's bed and carefully watching his son as he leant his head against the window. "I cannot watch you fall to ruin. The mortal is gone, she made her decision. Let yourself move on,"

"You never moved on," Legolas spoke hastily "When naneth was killed you never moved on,"

"Your naneth died, she did not choose to part with me," The Elvenking replied hastily. "Legolas, Hera choose to leave,"

"No, she didn't," The elf sighed, "She left because she did not want me to watch her age. She left because she did not want me to witness her turning into a frail old woman. She did not choose mortality, as I did not choose immortality."

"Legolas-"

"You cannot pull me from this depression. The only one who can is the only one whom I cannot reach," Legolas took a deep breath. "I think I'm going to leave...To the undying lands, where my wounds may finally be healed."

And so, Legolas had spoke, the words that had long plagued Thranduil. He did not wish to lose his son, he did not want there to be so much distance between them. Thranduil shook his head. "No, not yet,"

"What good am I doing here? Sitting wasting my life away, pining over a woman I am destined to lose anyway?" Legolas questioned, "She is probably happy with another as I speak, with countless children that should belong to me. I heard that all my pain will be healed if I leave. I cannot live with this any longer _ada_, do not stop me, for if you do so, you will be insuring my unhappiness,"

Thranduil struggled for a protest, if ever Legolas made sense, it was now. What was the point of remaining only to be unhappy? What was the point of wasting every hour staring at four walls crying over a woman whom can never be yours? Thranduil cursed mortality as he pulled his only son into a tight hug. "Am I not enough to remain for?" Thranduil asked, "Does my happiness mean nothing to you,"

"Of course it does," Legolas breathed, "But tell me this? Are you happy? Are you happy to watch me fade into nothing?"

To that Thranduil could not argue, allowing his child to leave his arms he finally sighed. "Of course not,"

* * *

_**A/N -**_

Constructive criticism is very welcome, but just no flames, if it's not constructive then there is not a point to it. As I'm still in my mid-teens I'm not perfect, so...well that's not an excuse, What I'm trying to say is it might not be up to scratch as Im not as experienced as some of the other writers on here

I'm going to be updating this practically daily, I have a physics assessment and a math's test coming up, so I'm trying to get as much studying as I can done, before I have to revise. I'm also in the process of re-writing my other story, The Running Time. If you read that, it's only the first few chapters as on a whole they were pretty poorly written, I'll definitely continue with that as well as this.

But anyway, the whole purpose of the whole Crickley thing was to remind Raina of mortality and old age. This will later help her to understand her mother's decision in leaving Legolas, so it wasn't just random. Anyway, thanks a bunch for taking the time to read, and if you reviewed. Thank you so much, I'm going to keep writing this with or without reviews, but its always nice to have a little motivator to inspire you when you've a got a little bit of writer's block :D


	3. The Day the Owls Stopped Hooting

Chapter 3  
The Day the Owls Stopped Hooting

* * *

"_Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen." Winston Churchill _

**Laketown**

Raina was sat in the kitchen. It was, what seemed to be, a very normal suppertime. Dione was slicing cheese to put on the overly-stale bread and Maldor was cross-legged in the corner which his mother had named the "naughty corner,", he had once again tormented the snobbish spinster down the road by destroying her prized turnips. Lance on the other hand had vanished upstairs to retrieve the strangely absent Solanne.

"Raina sweetheart, can you make some tea?" Dione asked, Raina nodded happily, joining her aunt at the counter. The half elven, dunked the twice-used tea leaf into the ceramic pot and poured the hot water in, swirling it around carefully. "Don't bother pouring a cup for Maldor; he is not getting supper tonight,"

"That's not a punishment mother," Maldor spoke bitterly, "That bread's older than Old Crickley,"

Raina cast her cousin a warning glance. She set the mugs on the table and left Dione's on the counter. The filled mugs shook violently as Lance thundered down the stairs without Solanne at his back. Raina sighed, Solanne had always been one for running of at the crack of midnight with the love of her life Tyr, the blacksmith's son. In Raina's opinion he wasn't good enough for her, he spent all of his time boasting about his prowess with a sword, yet Maldor had defeated him armed with only a pointy-ended branch.

"Where has that young idiotic girl gotten to now!" Lance hissed, "We have been cursed with terrible children Dione."

"She'll just have snuck out with Tyr, Uncle Lance, I could go fetch her if you'd like. Raina suggested. Lance nodded carefully.

"I can trust that you won't go missing as well?"

"Of course," She bowed, "But Maldor should come with me, it is late I don't like walking through the woods alone at such hours,"

Lance nodded grudgingly and Maldor allowed a large grin to grow on his face. He pulled himself up and ran off after Raina, who was already halfway out the door. It was bitterly cold outside, the wind brushed through the leaves harshly. Raina wrapped her arms around herself and shivered.

"It is very cold," Raina stated the obvious. "Solanne better not be far away,"

Maldor nodded enthusiastically. The pair headed off toward the lake, it was where Tyr and Solanne usually went to get some privacy. Thankfully, it wasn't a long walk. Raina and Maldor reached their destination fairly quickly.

Solanne was nowhere to be seen, nor was Tyr. Maldor grumbled loudly, but Raina silenced him. She felt something in the air. Something evil was near. The owls had stopped hooting and even the wind had stopped howling. "What is it?" Maldor asked Raina.

"Something draws near," Raina spoke in husked tone. "We should head back, something's foul has been here Mal,"

"What about Solanne!" Maldor exclaimed Raina nodded uneasily. "C'mon let's check up ahead. You're just imagining things again, there's nothing dangerous around these parts,"

Maldor ran of the up the hill and Raina grudgingly followed him. The feeling of danger still hadn't left her, in fact the further up the hill she got, the stronger the feeling became. Maldor stopped dead and Raina felt her heart thud against her ribcage. She had been right.

The half elven pushed herself in front of her cousin and navigated her way through the trees biting back her fear. Hidden behind a tree, Raina saw a body. She was unsure as to whether it was the body of a sleeping man; or a dead man. She nervously made her way forward, Maldor sticking close behind her.

Tyr lay against the tree, his body unmoving. Raina watched his chest, expecting to see it rise and fall, but it was still. Tyr was not breathing; his warm skin had a blue-like tinge to it, and his eyes empty of life. He was dead; Blood was smeared across his chest where five arrows were embedded. Raina bit back sick. She had only seen one dead body before; her mother's.

"_You don't have to if you don't want to," Dione took Raina's hand. "Nobody's forcing you to sweetheart,"_

"_I need to see her once more aunt Dione," Raina whimpered. "I never got the chance to say goodbye,"_

_Dione smiled knowingly, grasping Raina's hand and leading her into the room. Raina's heart took a leap when she saw her mother lying upon the bed. Hera did not look like herself, her eyes no longer filled with life, her hair thin and lank. Her once glowing skin was now dull and colourless and her smile gone forever. Raina took a few nervous steps towards her mother's bedside as Dione stood in the corner trying hard to stay strong for her niece._

_Raina took her mother's hand. It was cold; it wasn't warm like it used to be. "Mum, I miss you already and it's only been a day," She sobbed, "I wish you weren't taken from me, I don't know what I'm going to do without you." Raina wiped the tears away from her eyes and stared at her mother. She looked peaceful. "I love you mum, I'm not going to say goodbye...because you're not really dead. As long as my heart beats you'll be alive in my memory," _

Raina pulled her gaze away from Tyr. Maldor was stood frozen to the spot behind her. "We need to find Solanne!" she exclaimed. The mortal nodded, the shock still hadn't sunk in yet. Raina pulled an arrow carefully from Tyr's chest; she had seen that kind of arrow before. Orcs.

"Solanne!" Maldor yelled at the top of his voice, panic overcoming him. Raina stared around at the ground and spotted a few footprints leading up the hill. They looked like Solanne's, but she could not be sure. She followed them up the hill anyway, all whilst calling out Solanne's name.

Finally she received a muffled response. "Rai!"

Raina followed the sound and found Solanne lying amongst a pool of her own blood. Beside her lay the corpse of an orc, its black blood intermingled with Solanne's crimson blood. Raina flew to her cousin's side; she looked half-dead already. "Where are you hurt Solly?"

"St-stomach," Solanne replied biting back a cry of pain. Raina nodded, she was no expert on healing, but she had tended to wounded horses before. She pressed her cloak against Solanne's wound.

"You're going to be fine," Raina assured. "Maldor, go and get uncle Lance and tell him to bring a healer!"

Maldor nodded, his jaw still touching the ground, tears spilling out from his eyes. He turned and ran with as much speed as Raina.

"Tyr," Solanne murmured, "Is he...is he okay?"

"I'm sorry," Raina sobbed lightly, pulling herself together. She had to be strong for her cousin. "He didn't make it," Solanne wept loudly and Raina could do nothing to calm her. "Just hold on until the healer gets here, everything will be fine, I promise,"

"Not for Tyr," Solanne snapped solemnly, her eyelids flickering, "I feel tired,"

"Just stay awake," Raina ordered, carefully sinking her head into her cousin's shoulder. "Tell me what happened to the orc?"

"I killed it," Solanne struggled. "It leapt on me...I had Tyr's sword. I don't know how I managed it, but I did it...I killed it, but it got me first..."

Solanne's eyes flickered shut and Raina bit back even more tears. Her cousin had fallen into unconsciousness. Luckily Maldor, Lance and the elderly healer arrived. The healer was sat upon Hare who was whinnying excitedly. Lance helped the healer down and flew to his daughter's side, shaking her lightly.

"She was conscious for a bit, but she fell asleep," Raina told Lance, "She's alive still."

"The wound is deep," Healer Wulfric murmured tracing his hand over the blood. "It is a grave wound. I can try and stitch it, but I do not have the supplies nor do I have the skill to heal this sort of injury Lance. I have seen many full-grown men die from smaller scrapes than this,"

"Then what do you suggest we do? Let my daughter die!" Lance exclaimed angrily, "She's just young, just a child! You'll have to find a way Wulfric!"

"There is a way," Wulfric sighed, "You must take her to those better suited to saving her."

"Who?" Raina asked, a glimmer of hope growing with her. Solanne had a chance.

"That would be the elves," Wulfric spoke solemnly, "but the journey to Mirkwood is long, and plagued with many dangers. You'd have to be quick and small enough to go unnoticed,"

"Well I'm not small and I'm not quick, so what do you suggest?" Lance hissed, running a hand over Solanne's forehead.

"I'll go," Raina announced. She was small, and she was certainly fast. It seemed the perfect solution. "I'm quick, I'm fast and I'll go unnoticed."

**A/N**

**Not happy at all with this chapter. I've rewritten it more times than I can count. The next chapter will be better, Legolas will find out about Hera's death and he'll finally meet Raina. **

**I never did really clarify everyone's ages in my story. Raina (Mortal Years) Is around 13-14 whereas Solanne is sixteen and Maldor is twelve.**

**I'm sorry for the late update. I said I would update this practically daily, but I had a bad case of writer's block and I was more focused on writing my other story "The Running Time" but I'm going to be paying much more attention to this story as of now, that does mean however that I'll probably not update my other story as frequent.**

**Thanks for reading, REVIEW. Please? **


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